Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-08

are worth. Now when Baas Muller had
struck you, you said that he had shot your
father and your mother. Was that a lie,
or what did you mean by saying it"'
at was no lie, baas," said the Hotten-
tot e~xcitedly. Il have said it once, and
l will say it again. Listen, baas, and L
will tell You the story. When l was
young, 50 highland he held his hand
high enough to indicate q tottie of about ii
years OF age-''we, that is, my father, my
mother, my uncle, a very old man, older
than the baas" pointing TO Silas Croft
were hijwoners authorized squat
ters) on a place belonging to old Jacob
Muller, Blas Franks father, down III Ly-
denburg yonder. 1t was q bush veldt
farm, and old Jacob used to come down
there with his cattle from the High Yeldt
in the winter when there was no grass IN
the High veldt, and with him came the
Euglishwoman, his wife, and the young
Baas Frank-the baas we saw yesterday.
How long ago was all this?' asked Mr.
Croft.
Jamie counted on his fingers for some
seconds, and then held up his hand and
opened it four times IN quick succession.
so" he said, twenty years last winter.
Baas Frank was young then; he had only
a little down upon his chin. One year,
when ON Jacob went away, after the
first rains, he left six oxen
that were too poor (thin) to go with my
flther. and told him 10 look after them aS
| though they were his children. But the
oxen were bewitched. Three of them o
the lungsick and died, a lion got one, 4
snake killed one, and one ate tulip ana
| died too. So when On Jacob came back
the next year all the oxen were gone. lie
was very angry with my father, and beat
him with a yoke strap tin be was all blood,
and, though we showed him the homes OF
the oxen, he said that we had stolen them
and sold them.
"Now, ON Jacob had beautiful span OF
black oxen that he loved like children.
Sixteen of them were there, n they
would come up 10 the yoke when he called
them and put down their heads Of them
selves. They were tame rs dogs. These
oxen were thin when they came down, but
in two months they got fat aud began to
want to trek about as oxen do. At TINS
time there was q BasQtu, one Of SequatIs
people, resting in Il hut, for he had hurt
his foot with a thorn. When ON Jacob
found that the Basutu was there he was
very angry, for he said that all Basutus
were thieves. So my father old the
Basutu that the haas said that he must 20
away, and he went that night. NeAl
morning the span OF black oxen were gone
too. The kraal gate was down aud they had
gone. We hunted all day, but We could
not find them. Then Om Jacob got mad
with rage, and the young BaaS Frank told
him that one o fthe Kaifir boys had said tn
him that he had heard my father sell them
to the Basutu for sheep which he was tn
pay to us in the nrnc 1t was \ lie,
but Baas Frank hated my father because
OF something about q wOman-a Zulu girl.
Next morning, when We were asleep, just
at daybreak, ON Jacob Muller and
Baas Frank and two katfirs came into
the lint and pulled us ont, the Old
man, my uncle, my father. my mother
aud myself, and tied us up TO four mlm0sa
trees, with buffalo reims. Then the katlirs
went away, and On Jacob asked my father
where the cattle were, and my father told
him that he did not know. Then he took
off his hat and said 4 prayer 10 the Big
Man in the sky, and when he had done
Baas Frank came up with a gun, and stood
quite close and shot my father dead, and
he fell forward and hung quite over
the REIN, his head touching his feet.
Then he loaded the gun again and shot
the old man, my uncle, aud he slipped
down dead, and his hands stuck up in the
air against the REIN. Next he shot my
mother, but the bullet did o Kill her,
and cut the REIN, and she run away, aud
he ran after her and killed her. When
that was done he came back tn shoot me;
but | was young then and did not know
that it is better TO he dead than 10 live
like a dog, and ! begged and prayed for
mercy while he wa loading the gun.
"Rut the baas only laughed, and said he
would teach HOttentntS how TO steal cattle
and old ON Jacob prayed ont loud 10 the
Big Man and said he was very sorry for mt
but il was the dear Lords will. And then,
Just rs Baas Frank lifted the gun he drop
ped it aglin, for there. coming softly, soft
" over The brow of the hill, i'll and out he
tween the bushes, were all the siXtecr
oxen. They had got out in the night ano
strayed away into some klool for a change
of pasture ard come back when they were
full and tired OF being alone. ON Jacol
turned quite white and scratched his head,
and then fell upon His knees and
thanked the dear Lord fur say
ing my life; and Just then the English
woman. Bass Franks mother, came down
from the wagon 10 see what the firing was
at, and when she saw all the people dead
and me weeping, tied to the tree, and
learned what it WAS about, she welt quite
mad, for sometimes she had Il kind heart
when she was not drunk. and said that 4
curse would fall on them, and that they
wculd die in blood. And she took a knife
and cut me loose, though Baas Frank
wanted to kill me, so that ] might tell nc
tales; and ! ran away, travelling by night
and hiding by day, for | was very much
frightened, till | got to Natal, and there
stopped, working in Natal till the land he
came English, when Baas Croft hired me
to drive his cart up from Maritzburg; and
living by here | found Baas Frank, look
ing bigger, but Just the same except for his
beard.
TO EE CONTINUED.